Ziff Davis Enterprise, the publisher of LinuxDevices and eWEEK, among other publications, has launched a new eWEEK Labs website to serve as an independent showcase of reviews and technical analyses of the latest computer, Internet, and wireless technologies. The review-focused site will also provide online community features, including reader reviews.

While eWEEK has been providing independent reviews under the eWEEK Labs brand for almost two decades for its print and online publications, the review team now has its own community-enabled site. The site will offer more reviews and technical analyses than before, says the company.

The reviews, which provide a standard scorecard motif, including numerical ratings from both eWEEK Labs and readers, "cut through the market hype with detailed reviews of product features and performance to help enterprise IT managers and technology professionals judge whether products are worthy of their attention," says Ziff Davis Enterprise.

Product card for recent Citrix XenServer 5.5 review on eWEEK Labs
(Click to enlarge)

eWEEK Labs focuses primarily on enterprise hardware and software, including Linux-based software like the recently reviewed Citrix XenServer 5.5 virtualization software (see image above), and the Red Hat clone CentOS 5.3. Still, eWEEK Labs recently reviewed one Linux-based device — the Novatel MiFi mobile WiFi hotspot — and last June, the site reviewed the Linux-based Palm Pre. One can hope that the eWEEK Labs will expand beyond its frequent coverage of RIM BlackBerry phones to also break down some more Android- or Linux-based smartphones, as well as other Linux-based devices.

Stated Ziff Davis Enterprise CEO Steve Weitzner, "eWEEK Labs offers IT professionals the chance to look at the product specifications of scores of enterprise-class solutions. More importantly, though, they can write reviews of these products and read what their peers have to say about the best-in-class IT products and learn how other IT pros use this technology in their day-to-day work lives."

Stated Debra Donston, eWEEK director of audience recruitment, "The new eWEEK Labs site will integrate that expertise with the real-world insight of enterprise IT professionals. The site will also provide "a unique community where IT decision makers can get the peer-reviewed information they need to select the best solutions for their companies."

Stated Jason Brooks, eWEEK Labs managing editor, "No matter how much trouble we take to evaluate products in the lab in 'real world' scenarios, there's really no substitute for learning about how IT administrators experience these products in their environments. We've done Labs On-Site stories, and case study interviews, and we get a lot of great reader mail, but again, we haven't had a good way to access the bulk of what's out there. My hope is that the labs site will give us a way to get beyond these long standing limitations."

Availability

The new eWEEK Labs site may be found here.

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This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.